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Monday, June 30, 2014

Leaving Yorktown

By now, Dear Readers, you have noticed that I did not post a blog yesterday. I was having way too much fun. It was a busy day.

We started the morning waking up early as usual. It seems that once you get in the habit of getting up at 6 AM, your body will not take a vacation day! Since we were up with lots of time, Peggy made blueberry pancakes!

After breakfast, some of us did the laundry run. It wasn't totally necessary, but some of the clothes were dirty, and both washers were available. How could we resist!

Finally, the laundry finished. We took off for Yorktown. We started with a ride on the free trolley. It is a great route that takes you around town and up to the Yorktown Victory Center. Yes, the town is very small, but the ride gives you an overview of it all.

Next stop- the Watermen's Museum. This is a very small museum, but it is packed with artifacts and exhibits. As you can tell by the name, it honors the lives of those who work on the water. First thing we learned is that the term 'waterman' is only used here in America and in England- but only in the region of the Thames River! We also learned that William and Mary College was started with fines paid by three pirates! The house the museum is in was once on the other side of the river. It was delivered to the site by barge. And, it had a great gift shop. Quite a lot to be packed in one small house! The most incredible thing was the amount of ship models- all of the made and donated by volunteers. And, it is totally cared for by volunteers. That includes putting together the exhibits. They do a great job.

Next, it was back on the trolley to the Yorktown Victory Center. This is a much bigger museum, and it has staff. All the exhibits were beautiful. They have the prerequisite movie theater as well as an outdoor education area. During our visit, they had the army camp and the farm up and running with reenactors. The place was packed with great exhibits and things to do. We certainly needed more time, but it was getting late.

We headed back to town for my daily dose of ice cream. Just as the sign said in the islands, it's necessary!

I love that sign!!! BTW, during the time we were indulging in ice cream, we had quite the event. There was a wedding across the street in the waterfront park! Lots of (probably hot) people were sitting or standing in the sun when the biggest stretch limo we have ever seen arrived. Yes, the bride, the dad. A wagon, and two little children came out of that limo. But seriously, all the guests could have fit as well! This was our second wedding while on this trip. The first was at the waterside park at the Beaufort Docks. Weddings, rainbows, big boats, dolphins...this trip has been jam packed with sights to see!

After our visit to Ben and Jerry's, we wandered over to the wine shop where they sell tropical wines. No grapes anywhere! We indulged ourselves by purchasing peach, pineapple, and blueberry.

And then, just before the pick up to go back to the boat, there was another treat. A fife and drum corps marched through town. They were all dressed in Revolutionary era uniforms. It was just great! Wow! What a way to end our day.

Finally, back to the boat. We took a break- some of us napping, and some of us watching the goings on in the area. Our favorite story of the day involves a group of people on the sandy beach across from the marina.

This picture was taken this morning. Yesterday evening, there were three boats and lots of people- and dogs! If you look at the picture, you can see that several of the crab pot floats are suspiciously close to that beach. Well, one of the dogs was a young black lab who decided that those floats just had to be toys that were thrown in the water just for him. So, he spent his afternoon trying to get them onto the beach. Yes, he was literally dragging around floats with crab pots attached. He actually got the two closest to the beach up on the beach! He even tried to bury one.

Now, we do not advocate nor do we support the practice of moving other people's crab pots around in the water. But, that dog was SO determined. It was hysterical to watch how persistent he could be in trying to get those floats to the beach!

After dinner, we all showered and went to bed. This morning was another early one- this time on purpose. We want to make time to get to Deltaville.

So, we said goodbye to Yorktown. We are off for another day of fun and adventure on the water. It is not even 8 AM, and we have already seen 5 dolphins. As usual, they appear to be in the witness protection program- they managed to evade all attempts to capture photos of them. For once,I decided not to give you yet another water picture with arrows. A short break- but the day is young.